The intervention of the Coimbatore District Collector has been sought to stem the tide of irregularities in appointments in Bharathiar University.

Lakshmiprabha, who is in the list of candidates for the post of assistant professor in the varsity, having applied way back in 2011, sees foul and has petitioned Collector TN Hariharan.

She completed her post-graduation in biotechnology and applied for the post of assistant professor in the university. Alleging that there were irregularities galore in the posting process, and that she was eligible to appointment, Lakshmiprabha has requested the Collector to intervene and ensure that irregularities are rooted out.

Her petition states that she first applied for the post in 2011, immediately after successfully completing her studies.

The post was then reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates and the rule is clear that in case there is no suitable candidate from that list, those outside the category can be considered. Here too, the rule is that female candidates should be given preference in such cases. But giving the rules a go-by, the authorities appointed a male candidate, which, she alleges could be on the basis of some favouritism.

She says that not only was she denied the job, against which she had complained, but the university also acted with vendetta and dismissed her husband from service without notice. He had been working as driver there for 20 years.

She immediately filed a writ petition demanding his reinstatement and also sent complaints to the national and state human rights commissions.

This added to the grouse of the university authorities and the Vice-Chancellor even threatened her, she complains. The Vice-Chancellor wanted her to withdraw the case of face dire consequences, she says in her petition.

The Covai Post’s attempts to contact the Vice-Chancellor A Ganapathi and the Public Relations Officer at the university failed as they were not available for comment.